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Nightshade
Nightshade, the witch of the Deep Fell, is one of the primary antagonists of the Landover novels. She was the daughter of a human mother and a fairy father, and when her father abandoned them, she was left heart-broken, which drove her to evil. For her wicked acts, she was exiled from the fairy mists, and, as of the start of the series, had dwelt within Landover for centuries. During that time, she was the enemy of the dragon Strabo. She first appears in Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! when King Benjamin Holiday insists, over the vociferous objections of all his advisers and friends, on traveling to the Deep Fell to attempt to recruit her to his side as an ally against the Iron Mark, as she, as one of the most powerful wielders of magic in all Landover, would be one of the few who could hope to defeat the Mark. After tense negotiations, Nightshade agrees to help him in exchange for Io dust, a magical substance that renders anyone who inhales it unable to disobey any commands they hear, and which can only be found in the fairy mists, from which Nightshade was exiled. King Benjamin agreed to her terms, journeyed alone into the fairy mists, recovered two pods of the Io dust, and returned, only to discover that, in the interim, Nightshade had banished his friends to Abaddon, home of the demons. In his anger, the King used some of the Io dust on her and forced her to fly into the mists, knowing that she feared the wrath of the fairies more than anything. She survived this, however, and it cemented the permanent enmity between them. Nightshade returned in the second novel, The Black Unicorn, as she had previously been in possession of the magical golden bridle needed to harness the eponymous unicorn, although it was revealed that it had been stolen from her by Strabo. She captured the disguised king along with the G'home Gnomes Filip and Sot, and transported them all to Strabo's lair, only to find that Strabo had already sold the bridle to Willow. Enraged, the witch attacked the dragon, allowing the king and the gnomes to escape. In the third novel, Wizard at Large, Nightshade comes into possession of the Darkling's bottle; she uses the Darkling to summon an evil version of the Paladin, which does battle with the real Paladin. After Questor Thews destroys the Darkling, however, ending the battle, Nightshade flees. It was in the fourth novel, Tangle Box, that Nightshade's relationship with King Benjamin was changed forever. The witch, the king, and the dragon Strabo were all trapped in the labyrinthine other-world of the eponymous box and cursed with amnesia. Not knowing who they were, Benjamin and Nightshade found themselves attracted to each other and became lovers. Shortly thereafter, however, the curse began to break, and Benjamin began to regain his memory. Nightshade begged him not to say anything, fearing correctly that speaking the truth would finish breaking the curse, restoring their memories. When he did so anyway, and Nightshade realized all that had happened, she was overcome with pain and rage, and swore that she would hate Benjamin forever for what had happened. This led her to become the primary antagonist of the fifth novel, Witches' Brew. She kidnaps Crown Princess Mistaya, daughter of King Benjamin and Queen Willow, and tricks her into believing that they are friends and that Nightshade is going to train Mistaya in the use of her magic. Instead, Nightshade tricks Mistaya into magically creating one monster after another to send against King Benjamin. Simultaneously, she recruits Lord Kalendbor, mightiest of the lords of the Greensward, disguises him as King Rydall of Marnhull, and has him challenge King Benjamin to a duel for the throne. She was ultimately defeated, and trapped by Haltwhistle in her crow form and banished to earth. Nightshade appears only briefly in book six, A Princess of Landover, still trapped in her crow form and living in the aviary at a Chicago zoo. She escapes at the end, however, both from the zoo and from the curse trapping her as a bird. This did make her, however, the only antagonist to appear in all six novels to date. Powers Nightshade is a witch of great power, and is described by Questor Thews as having perhaps the greatest magic in all Landover after the inherent magic of the land itself. Under magical compulsion, however, Nightshade grudgingly concedes that Strabo is even mightier than she. Nevertheless, Nightshade is able to do battle with the dragon and pose a serious challenge to him, as in Black Unicorn. She is also not a match for the Paladin in direct combat. One of the specific powers she is shown to have is shape-changing; her preferred alternate form is that of a crow. She is also capable of some form of teleportation, and can teleport others with her. She can also cast highly convincing illusions, as when she disguised Kalendbor as Rydall. She is centuries, if not millennia old, but appears as a young woman. She also seems to possess unnatural endurance and durability. One of her weaknesses is that, should she ever come to feel unselfish emotions, she will lose her magical powers, although this may just be a psychosomatic problem for her. Nightshade dwells in the Deep Fell, the one place in Landover that the scrying power of the Landsview in Sterling Silver cannot penetrate. Whether that is an inherent property of the Deep Fell and the reason Nightshade chose to dwell there, or is the result of some magical protection Nightshade cast on the place she chose to dwell is unknown. Appearance Nightshade is, in human form, very tall, well over six feet, and is strikingly beautiful. She has black hair with a white skunk-stripe down the middle. She dresses in a dark gown or robe. Relations with Others Nightshade lives alone in the Deep Fell, and, being unable to feel affection for others, has no friends or loved ones, although she is capable of feigning friendship. She is the long-time enemy of Strabo the dragon, and has also been the inveterate enemy of King Benjamin since their first meeting. Their experience in the Tangle Box, however, suggests that she is attracted to Benjamin, and may even, very deep down, feel genuine affection for him, which may drive her hatred for him. It has been suggested that her intensified anger and hate for him after they regained their memories was not for sleeping with her, but for leaving her. Category:Villains Category:Characters